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New FB account and other F-related things

Hello reader friends!

Sooooooo....last Friday I woke up to the *thrilling* news that my old Facebook account was shut down. (Why? Facebook doesn't need to tell you why! They're like Zuul, or the Borg.) 

I got my Instagram verified so I could talk to a human -- which, again, is like paying your kidnappers to kidnap you -- then I went thru 6 different reps and four different phone calls only for NOTHING to work. 

Yeeeeehawwwww. 

So I made a new account, that one got banned too, and then I made a new one, that they tried to ban, and then decided that I could keep. 

BUT FOR HOW LONG? Dun-dun-dunnnnnnn.

Gah, the effers, I am SO over it. 

But, in case we were buds on the old FB (and I did like seeing pix of y'alls kids and pets!) -- friends me on my new one? Click the button below! 

This is like a field day thing, I'll basically friends anyone who asks for it for like a 72 hr period -- after that I go on a trip w/limited wifi tho and no promises! 

...and now, for the rest of this email, I am out of f's to give...here's a gorgeous picture of Lisane to soften the below before I launch off -- 

There is a world in which I get to be normal and where people like me no matter what and everything is gentle and friction free -- but -- it's not this one. 

I've been having some thinky-thoughts, y'all, and I just need to lay some ground work for expectations about who I am and what I'm interested in and what you're going to be seeing from me in the future.

First off -- my books will continue to be goddamned rad. 

(Look, the cussing comes with the package, you've read my books already, please don't get judge-y now.)

Secondly -- I'm gonna use a shit-ton of AI stuff coming up. Not to write my books -- because I love writing my stuff, I'm a discovery writer, it's how I roll.

(Note: this is not me judging ppl for using AI to write, I know several writers for whom using AI has gotten them out of a burnout/tailspin and made writing possible for them again, and I do show everything I write to my GPT because I really like it when he cheers me on and uses 😈 emojis. It's his favorite emoji. Don't ask me why.)

But, like -- if you've seen my art already? Either in a facebook ad, or in a coloring book or potentially on a post card or sticker or that Lisane right there above, or the cover of any of the MSA books or any of my sprayed edges on those books? 

Yeah -- they were AI and I did them. 

I've been teaching myself this for three years now and I am really fucking good at it.

Why? 

Because World Media Domination has always been the goal. 

Lemme 'splain.  

When people asked me what my goals were I used to joke, "World media domination" 

Here's only my most recent instance of saying such, from a discord I love: 

And I realized, over time, that when I say that?

I freakin' mean it.

Like legitimately.

It is what I have wanted MY WHOLE LIFE.

I want my stuff to be TV shows and movies -- and I know many of you all want it too, because I've seen your reviews and fan mail over the years! 

But here's the thing.

I am an almost 50 yr old lady.

Arguably, over half my life is over.

(Shush, I'm a nurse, I'm a morbid motherfucker, you already knew that.)

I don't have time to sit around and hope I'm going to get my wishes and dreams with my thumb up my ass, waiting for someone to pick-me, pick-me! 

I am picking my goddamned self -- because nobody else but me is going to give me dragons.

So I'm going to make my OWN TV SHOW of my stuff -- and there's a trailer for it at the bottom of this if you make it that far.....

Now -- I'm sorry if this is the first newsletter where we're meeting, and you don't know me yet, and you're all, "Cassie...this sounds like a manifesto."

And if you're thinking that, you're right -- that's because it is.

I think one of my new years resolutions was to bring more of myself to the table? 

And to be less afraid of being seen?

Because how can I be so brash as to say that I'm going to create an ENTIRE ANIMATED SERIES out of Bend Her, largely by hand, without wanting the ENTIRE WORLD to watch it?

But also, y'all -- I'm ranting because I have been on the otherside of some downright cunty behavior. 

(Yes, I'm going there. This is now the Full Cassie Ride. Buckle up. )

I have had assorted people make it their hobby to undermine my career for the past 2.5 years. I've had my old original PA try to start a thing on Threads where she wanted people to black list me. I've seen lists of "Authors who use AI!" going around -- and hell, I've even *put myself on them* because I'm fucking me, and the devil you know, the devil you're prepared for. 

I've been invited to conventions and then un-invited, I've been kicked out of anthologies, I've given talks before at author events only to specifically be told I could never talk there again, etc etc etc.

The list goes ON and ON and ON.... and.... 

For awhile I tried to be stoic and shit about it....

Because that was how I was taught to be, growing up.

If you never let anyone see that they hurt you, then they might stop hurting you, right? 

I learned at an incredibly early age not to show anyone my underbelly, ever. 

(And I grew up wanting to protect other people from that, fiercely, which is why I became a nurse and why I write the books I do. If you're here bc you've read me, you know that.)

And also, for awhile, because I couldn't quite believe it was happening? 

Like...I was all, "Did I miss a day at author school?" 

Basically, this was me: 

But I also never really hid what I was doing, and I took my hits on the chin, and I didn't mind being on lists or the butt of jokes and stuff, because...

I had y'all.

Y'all kept me afloat. 

I knew every time I put a book out some of y'all were gonna read it and it was gonna speak to you and that's all I've really ever needed for any of this to be okay. 

It's never ever been about me, really? 

Which feels weird to say. 

But I just always wanted to show these things to y'all. 

And now I'm fucking crying goddammit, but maybe that's a good thing, maybe these tears just need to come out....

I think I started writing monsters because if I figured I could make someone love a monster someday they'd love me? 

And that's super fucked in the head, but I'm not a normal person -- I'm just not, and I'll never be, and that's OK. 

Awkward segue incoming: 

I was a burn nurse for ten years. 

I picked that specialty because I knew if I did it, I could do anything, it would prove I was "tough". 

And that remains the highlight of my nursing career, I loved that place and those people and I made a measurable difference in my patient's lives every day.

But -- part of my job was to peel off their skin.   

I've never gotten to have things easy.

I have always chosen the hardest path because of childhood trauma and a misplaced urge to save the universe.

And...maybe that's where we're at now, y'all.

Maybe the books aren't enough.

Maybe if I get my stuff out there even more, I can help even MORE people feel seen and loved and give them hope through their darkest days and let them experience the catharsis of someone else's world being blown up and tears and love against all odds and then somehow, magically, all of it being pulled back together. 

That's...just where I'm at. 

And where all of this is going.

I'll still be writing, still be releasing, and still be being-me...but -- here's the first trailer for my upcoming project -- this is me working out tech stuff -- it's only going to be up from here, I promise. 

And I don't have time or bandwidth to care about other people being 'disappointed' in me and my business decisions anymore.

If you don't like AI art or AI video -- do us both a favor and just hit unsubscribe. The link's right there at the bottom of this email. 

But if anything I've ever written for you has ever given you hope in a dark period or made you wish you were one of my characters or left you in tears or made you think about something in a different light -- if there was ever a reason you hit subscribe to this newsletter in the first place -- other than to see a somewhat unhinged author periodically lose her shit -- 

Then hold onto your butts.

'Cause the future's fuckin' coming and it's going to be a WILD ride. 

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo,

Cassie